Untamed Heart (1993)

Review/Film;
Boyfriend Has Heart Of Baboon

"Untamed Heart" is to the mind what freshly discarded chewing gum is to the sole of a shoe: an irritant that slows movement without any real danger of stopping it.

The movie is about the transforming love affair of two innocents, Caroline (Marisa Tomei), a pretty Minneapolis waitress whose boyfriends dump her with alarming regularity, possibly because she talks too much, and Adam (Christian Slater), the busboy at the diner where Caroline works. He's a good-looking, strapping fellow who talks so seldom that people think he's retarded, though he's only shy. "Untamed Heart" would have you believe they are made for each other, like Diane and Chico in an upper Midwestern version of "Seventh Heaven."

Adam at first loves Caroline from afar, discreetly following her home late every night to make sure she arrives safely. When two goons try to rape her, Adam is there to save her. The romantic Caroline suddenly realizes that the man of her dreams is the guy who sweeps up and dumps the garbage. In truth he is a sweet, bookish fellow who loves searching for shooting stars. When he becomes depressed, he tells her, he listens to his records and "the rain stops falling."

Adam looks strong but he has a weak heart, a condition that goes back to his childhood in an orphanage. To help him through the bad days, his favorite nun used to tell him that he has been given a very special, magical heart, that of the baboon king of Kilimanjaro, which leads to some rather peculiar complications in the contemporary story.

Ms. Tomei and Mr. Slater play this nonsense as legitimately as possible. The indomitable Rosie Perez appears as Caroline's wisecracking friend. Tony Bill, best known as the producer of "The Sting," directed the screenplay by Tom Sierchio, his first to reach the screen.